Cage Warriors 72 set for Sept. 13 in Wales with pair of title fights

Cage Warriors will return to Wales in September, and a pair of title fights will be at the top of the bill.

Cage Warriors 72 is set for Sept. 13 at Newport Centre in Newport, Wales. Tickets for the event, which will have a main card on MMAjunkie following prelims on Cage Warriors’ Facebook page, will go on sale soon.

Headlining the card is a welterweight title fight between champion Nicolas Dalby (12-0), who will put his belt on the line for the first time when he meets Gael Grimaud (19-6). In the co-feature, the vacant bantamweight title is up for grabs as Cory Tait (8-2) takes on Toni Tauru (9-1-1).

Dalby, from Denmark, made his Cage Warriors debut earlier this year and won the 170-pound title with a fourth-round highlight-reel head-kick knockout of Sergei Churilov at Cage Warriors 66 in Copenhagen in his home country. (See the knockout highlight below.) That kept him unbeaten and gave him seven stoppages in his 12 career victories. The fight against Grimaud will be his first outside his native Denmark. The welterweight title victory over Churilov made him the successor to previous champion Cathal Pendred, now in the UFC.

“I’m very much looking forward to squaring off against Gael Grimaud as he was the latest fighter to hold the welterweight title,” Dalby stated. “He has a very dynamic style that I find quite interesting, so I’m looking forward to showing off how I will dismantle him and get the win.”

Grimaud, a 34-year-old veteran from France who is a former Cage Warriors champion, has been out of action since this past October, when he knocked out Bruno “B.C.” Carvalho just 45 seconds into their bout at Cage Warriors Fight Night 9. That gave him two straight wins after a decision loss to Pendred at Cage Warriors 52, where he surrendered the 170-pound title. Grimaud has won 11 of his past 12 fights, including a 3-1 mark for Cage Warriors. An impressive 15 of his 19 career wins are by stoppage, including a dozen submissions.

“To have the opportunity to get the Cage Warriors belt back is very exciting for me and I am determined to succeed,” Grimaud stated. “My opponent brings a strong challenge, but I believe I am a better fighter than him. I will be ready to take that belt back home again.”

Tait has four straight wins, including a first-round submission win over James Pennington at Cage Warriors 64, his return to the promotion for the first time since his pro debut in October 2010, also a first-round submission win. Tait, from England, has been an equal opportunity finisher in his nearly four-year pro tenure – he has four submissions and four knockouts in his eight career wins, with five coming in the first round, including three straight.

Tauru, from Finland, made his promotional debut in March and tapped out Martin Akhtar at Cage Warriors 66. That gave him nine straight wins since starting his pro career in his home country with a draw and a submission loss. After decisions in his first three victories, Tauru has rattled off six straight submission wins with five rear-naked chokes and a rare gogoplata.